Garment



Nov. 25, 1947. T. B. CRAIG 2,431,466

GARMENT Filed May 7, 1945 INVEN TOR. 7' 0/ 54km CPA/6 J7 Bxl/45W.

Patented Nov. 25, 1947 GARMENT Tedi Barri Craig, Los Angeles, Calif., assigner of one-half to James Craig, Los Angeles, Calif.

Application May 7, 1945, Serial No. 592,379

3 Claims.

This invention relates to garments and relates more particularly to dresses, or the like. An object of my invention is to provide a dress, or like garment, which is simple to construct, inexpensive to manufacture, and pleasing in appearance.

Although embodiments of my invention may be constructed of various fabrics such as wool, rayon or silk, I more particularly seek to provide a washable garment made of cotton or linen fabrics such as calico, seersucker, denim, lawn, etc., the primary object of my invention being to provide a washable garment which is easily and quickly ironed.

Another object of my invention is to provide a garment constructed in a manner whereby it can be ironed in a at condition.

Another object of the invention is to provide a garment of such construction that it can be ironed in a mangle quickly, easily and without wrinkles.

Another object of the invention is to provide a garment without pleats or folds or with stitched down pleats or tucks whereby it can be economically manufactured and is pleasing in appearance when worn.

A further object of my invention is to provide a garment which is sewn together without open pleats, folds or ruliles, which can be readily ironed at and without wrinkles, and which embodies means for drawing portions thereof together so that the garment fits the body of a wearer with a trim and pleasing effect.

A still further object of my invention is to provide a garment which is constructed in a flat condition and without regard to exact size or fit and which incorporates means for obtaining a nicety of t on the body of the wearer.

A still further object of my invention is to provide a garment of the character indicated incorporating simple and effective means, which are also decorative, for conforming and fitting particularly the waistline, neckline, and sleeve ends tothe person of the wearer after donning the garment.

The various objects and features of my invention will be more fully understood fromV the following detailed description of a typical, preferred form and application of the invention, throughout which description reference is made to the accompanying drawings, in which:

Fig. 1 is a front view of a dress incorporating the invention and shown in its normal at unworn condition.

Fig. 2 is a. similar view of said dress as it appears when worn and fitted to the person of the Fig. 3 is a fiat view of a fabric blank comprising the dress before sewing of the side seams, the view essentially depicting the pattern of the dress.

Fig. 4 is an enlarged cross sectional detail View as taken on the line 4-4 of Fig. l, said view being typical of the construction at various points of the dress.

Fig. 5 is a similar View of a modif-led form of construction.

The garment I have chosen to illustrate as an embodiment of the invention is a dress which comprises generally, a fabric blank I0, tapes or the like I I, I2 and I 3 stitched to said fabric blank along the front waistline, around the neckline, and along the sleeve ends, respectively, and draw or puckering strings or cords I4, I5 and I6 in pockets or channels formed by said tapes II, I2 and I3, respectively.

I have shown the blank I0 as a single piece of fabric. I wish it to be understood, however, that said blank can be made up of several component pieces to obtain various and pleasing elects particularly with fabrics having design configurations, stripes, etc. With striped fabric as an example, the portion of the blank I0 from the waistline down, both front and back, can have the stripes disposed in a different direction from the direction of the stripes on the main body of the blank. By such simple means the appearance of the garment, generally, can be enhanced.

I show the blank I0 as comprising a dress front part I1 and an identical back part I8 having respective side edges I9 and 20. I make said dress parts unusually wide between the respective edges I9 and 20 an-d generally, without pleats or other folds. I may, under certain conditions, provide the blank with suitable tucks or pleats ybut will stitch these down so that they are at and, in eect, do not change the character of the blank as regards general flatness. The front part I I comprises a skirt portion 2| and waist portion 22, and the back part I8 comprises a skirt portion 23 and an upper back portion 24. I further provide the fabric blank with short sleeve portions 25 and cut an opening 26 in the blank to provide a head inserting opening having a front neck line 21 and a back neckline 28. The opening 26 may be variously shaped to provide desired forms of neckline and the sleeve portion 25 may also be varied in shape and length for various effects. I make the opening 26 relatively large and the line of the sleeve end relatively long for reasons later apparent.

The fabric blank which I provide is shown in Fig. 3. It will be noted that the waist lines of both the front and back parts II and I8 are somewhat narrower than the remaining portions of the blank, so that the skirt portions 2l and 23 are ilared from the waistline outwardly and downwardly toward the blank ends 2lEL and 23a, respectively, and so that the waist and upper back portions 22 and 24 are flared outwardly and upwardly toward the sleeves 25. It will be further noted thatl the, sleeve ends are formed on a reentrant curve to provide. concave indentations 25a.

On the fabric blank which I have provided and along the waistline thereof between the front..

skirt and waist portions 2| and 22, I provide the tape II which extends from sidetoY side of the dress front and in an arc substantially paralleb ing the blank end ZIB. I provi-de similar tapes I2 and I3 around the neckline 21and'28 and along the ends of the sleeve portions 25f,respec tively. In practice, I stitch said tapes II, I2 and I3,- to the fabric along` spacedlines of stitching 29.-. and 30. tofproyide. pockets or channels 3l betweenthe lines. of stitchingf in one direction and between the. various tapes and fabric blank in the. other. I prefer to interruptthe, tapeIZ at the middle front of the neckline. at 32,110 provide an entrance slit for tne string I which extends throughthe pocket, formed. by said tape I2. I make said string I5 of suicient length so that bothitsendsproject from, said slit,32 I provide a, similar interrupting slit 3 3, at the midpoints ofthe tapes, I3 which are stitched along the sleeve, edges. I may, in praotice.provide two such. slits 32 or 3.3. in side. by side relation and form Said slits as either-rounder. elongated eyelets through which the ends of the string I5 project.A

However, before I insert the strings I4, I5 and I6 into the pockets of the respective tapes Il, ILand` I3, I seW thefront andV back partsV Il' and, I8` of the fabric, blank, together along` the related side., edges I.9 andZIl of said parts to form `said blank into. av flat loosely shaped" dress inwhich the waistline and, neckl and; sleeve openings are. abnormally large. The` side seams thus provided extend fromv the bottom of the, dress to the points 3.4 dening the sleeve` openings. With the4 dress thus provided, I insert. the. string I'Sgaround the neckline as set forth above, I insert the string I6 into thev pocketsY formed by the tapes I3, along the sleeve ends. in asimilar manner, and pass the string I4 through the pocket formed Iby the tape along the front waistline..

I have shown the. drawstring I4 as disposed in the4 channel formed along the front waistline and adapted to be tied around the back of the garment. I may, in practice, provide two drawstrings in front and back waist channels and tie the respective endsof these strings at either or at both the sides of the garment. In this case. I would provide a tape similar to the tape I I along thewaistline ofthe back of theV garment.

The modification shown in Fig. 5 illustrates another manner of forming the. various string receiving channels of the garment. As shown, the channels mayy be formed by `doubling back the garment fabric as at 40 and stitching atl 25]a and` 30a to form the channel 3Ia similar to the channel. 3|.

The tape which I employA in my invention is known as bias out tape and I prefer to use this type of tape so that thesame can be stitched into place around thevarious curves of the waistline, neckline and sleeveendsnaiiatl conforming con- 4 dition. However, I desire to depart from using conventional bias cut tape and to use instead, embroidered, printed, or otherwise decorated bias cut tape which, in addition to its functional properties, is decorative and pleasing to the eye. The numeral 35 indicates such decorations. I have shown the tapes applied on the outside of the dress. If desired, said tapes may be stitched on the insidethereof,

It will be seenthat I haverprovided a simple, flat dress which is, generally, loosely shaped. The dress can easily be donned by passing the same over the head of the wearer and by inserting the arms through the sleeve openings, Donning andremoving the dress is more easily accomplishedby. reason of the large neck and sleeve openings which I have provided by my construction. With the dress on the body of the wearer, thel ends of the string I4 can be passed around the back and tied. In doing this the waistline at the tape 35 can be shirred, gathered or otherwise arranged according to the size of the wearers waistline. Fig. 2 shows this condition and further indicates, by comparison with Fig. 1, how the drawstring. action of my construction provides for a variablev or adjustable iit of the waistlinev of the dress. The neckline can also begathered and crimped by the string I5 in a similar manner, and a bow tied in said string to additionally enhancey the, appearance of the dress. The foregoing also applies to the sleeve ends which, can be shirred and puckered by drawing up on the string I6. The indentations 25av of the sleeve ends, now become effective tol provide a full and pleasing puif in the upper sleeve part as shown at 25". This is attained by the variation in sleevev length from the neck opening to the reentrantly curved sleeve end,

Washing and ironing the dress is easily accomplished.v Tedious and expensive hand ironing is obviated, since the dress can be passed through a mangle in its normal flat condition and be perfectly ironed thereby in a small fraction of the time necessary for hand ironing, Accordingly, my invention is particularly adapted to be used for providing childrens dresses, house dresses, many types. of feminine uniforms, and like garments.

Having described only a typical preferred form and applicationl of my invention, I do not wish to be limited or restricted to the specic details herein set forth, but wish to reserve to myself any variations or modifications that may appear to those skilled in the art and fall within the scope-of the following claims.

Having described my invention, I claim:

1. A garmentv comprising a single continuous nat elongate fabric blank having front and back portions extending in opposite directions from the middle portion of the blank, having sleeve portions projecting laterally from the middle p0rtion of the blank, and having a neckline dening an opening and located between the sleeve portions, a tape stitched along the waistline of the garment, a tape stitched substantially entirely around said neckline, a tape stitched around the ends of vsaid sleeve portions, all of the said tapes forming channel pockets, anddrawstrngs in the channel pockets for gathering together the portions of the garment along which said tapes are stitched gathering the garment at said waistline, the neckline and the sleeve ends.

V2. A; garment comprising a single continuous fiat elongate fabric blank having front and back portions extending in opposite directions from a middle portion and each reduced in width at the Waist-portion of the garment and flaring from the waist portion to the ends of the blank which are curved to define the bottom edge of the garment, the blank having sleeve portions projecting laterally from said middle portion and the blank having an opening in the middle portion between the sleeve portions dening a curved neckline, tapes stitched along the waistline of the garment, a tape stitched to the middle portion of the blank substantially entirely around said neckline, tapes stitched along the ends of said sleeve portions, all of the said tapes forming channel pockets, and drawstrings in the channel pockets gathering together the portions of the garment along which said tapes are stitched shaping the garment at the waistline, the neckline and at the sleeve ends.

3. A garment comprising a single continuous flat elongate fabric blank having front and back portions extending in opposite directions from a middle portion and each reduced in Width at the waist portion of the garment and flaring from the waist portion to the ends of the blank which are curved to define the bottom edge of the garment, the blank having sleeve portions projecting laterally from said middle portion and having curved outer edges and the blank having an openlng in the middle portion between the sleeve portions dening a curved neckline, tapes stitched along the waistline of the garment, a tape stitched to the middle portion of the blank substantially entirely around said neckline, tapes stitched along the ends of said sleeve portions, allof the said tapes forming channel pockets, and drawstrings in the channel pockets gathering together the portions of the garment along which said tapes are stitched shaping the garment at the waistline, the neckline and at the sleeve ends, the tapes being bias cut decorated tapes having interrupting cuts through which the ends of the draw strings project.

TEDI BARRI CRAIG.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record ln the le of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,524,345 Du Bose Jan. 27, 1925 1,840,888 Dooley Jan. 12, 1932 2,157,460 Robertson et al. May 9, 1939 2,299,996 Kremer Oct. 2'?, 1942 

